Lincoln Village Businesses, Property Owners Plan To Tax Themselves
Funding would be used improve key commercial corridor.
Lincoln Avenue in the Lincoln Village. Photo by Urban Milwaukee staff.
Business and commercial property owners on a key southside street are voting to tax themselves to improve their neighborhood.
A new business improvement district, or BID, is proposed for Lincoln Avenue.
The Lincoln Village BID would run from S. 5th Street near Interstate 43/94 west to W. Forest Home Avenue and S. 25th Street.
The BID would effectively provide resources to the all-volunteer Lincoln Village Business Association.
“We have had a lot of concerns with Lincoln Avenue as far as beautification, safety and many other things. We’ve seen it come up and down. It hit its breaking point, I want to say, two years ago, and the amount of work we have put in has shown a lot of changes lately,” said Maribel Franco, association president and owner of Hideout Lash Room at 1130 W. Lincoln Ave., to the City Plan Commission on Aug. 17.
“I feel like we have plateaued with what we can do with all-volunteer work and no money,” said Don Rambadt, an association member, area resident and artist.
The funding would be used to expand existing beautification efforts, which Rambadt said include 54 planters.
If approved by the Common Council, the district would have a $57,424 operating budget in its first year. Commercial property owners would pay a minimum of $300 and a maximum of $1,200 annually.
An additional property tax of $2 per $1,000 of assessed value would be levied on commercial and manufacturing properties. A property would need to be assessed at $150,000 to reach the minimum and $600,000 to reach the maximum. Residential and tax-exempt properties would not be taxed.
“We have seen many other districts have their BIDs go very well,” said Franco. Rambadt said the BID would also bring businesses together fairly.
The district has the support of John Rozga, the fourth generation of Rozga Funeral & Cremation Services at 703 W. Lincoln Ave. “I have never seen such an enthusiastic, such an energetic, such a capable group of people that I feel safe investing my BID money in,” he said.
Pastor Bob Cook, head of the Basilica of St. Josaphat at 2333 S. 6th St., said the church strongly supports the district’s creation. The church would be exempt from paying into the BID, but Cook said the district would improve the neighborhood’s image and the church’s role as a tourist destination.
An operating plan calls for $18,000 to be spent on safety, including a part-time ambassador or patrols.
A total of $16,000 is earmarked for administration and coordination, with $9,250 for beautification, $5,000 for marketing, $2,500 for a website and $3,000 for events.
Franco said the BID would support two new events that have proven successful: LincolnFest and a winter market.
The plan commission unanimously endorsed its creation.
The Common Council must still approve the district. But state law provides a 30-day period from the date of the plan commission hearing for property owners to object to its creation. The BID cannot be formed if 40% of property owners, by value, in the district file a petition in opposition.
According to the city’s online legislative records, only Steven Arenzon, owner of Wisconsin Knight at 1111 W. Lincoln Ave., has filed a letter in opposition.
If approved, Mayor Cavalier Johnson would need to appoint up to 11 members to the BID’s governing board.
BIDs work closely with the Commercial Corridor Team within the Department of City Development on their operation and must file an annual operating plan with the Common Council.
The city has 31 active BIDs. Many are small, like Lincoln Village, but a handful have full-time staff and multi-million-dollar budgets, including Milwaukee Downtown, Business Improvement District #21, and Historic Third Ward – Business Improvement District #2.
The district could quickly find itself needing to use its organizing power. Milwaukee Public Schools must determine what it will do with the Lincoln Avenue Elementary School property at 1817 W. Lincoln Ave. after the school was destroyed by a fire in July.
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